Would You Eat Poison?

Aspartame (Nutra-Sweet) is responsible of 75% of the adverse food reaction to additives reported to the FDA. It was discovered back in 1965 by accident when James Schlatter, a chemist, whilst testing and anti-ulcer drug.

It was approved for dry goods use in 1981 and fizzy drinks in 1983. However, it was first approved back in 1974 but objectives were filed by scientists and it's release was held back.

75% of adverse reactions to food additives reported tot he FDA came from Aspartame. The reactions vary greatly but some are very serious including seizures and even death. Some of the 90 different reported symptoms include headaches, dizziness, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain (!?) rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability and anxiety.

Brain Tumours, MS, Epilespsy, CFS, Parkinsons Disease, Lymphoma and Fibromyalgia can all be triggered or worsened according to the researchers studying the adverse effects of Aspartame. We need to take heed as Aspartame is in so many everyday food stuffs that we buy from our supermarkets.

Aspartic Acid makes up 40% of Aspartame and appears to cause serious chronic neurological disorders and a load of other acute symptoms.

Aspartate and Glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain. Too much of it in the brain kills off certain neurons by allowing a deluge of too much calcium into the cells. Aspartate and Glutamate are often known as "Excitotoxins" ie they excite or stimulate the neural cells to death.

Slowly but surely too much glutamate and aspartate begin to destroy neurons. 75% of neural cells in a certain part of the brain are killed before symptoms are noticed.

A few of the myriad of conditions shown to be linked to long term exposure to the excitatory amino acid damage include MS, ALS, Parkinson's Disease, Dementia, Epilepsy, Hormonal issues and Memory Loss amongst others. Quite a scary list!

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) recently stated that "It is prudent to avoid the use of dietary supplements of L-glutamic acid by pregnant women, infants, and children. The existence of evidence of potential endocrine responses, i.e., elevated cortisol and prolactin, and differential responses between males and females, would also suggest a neuroendocrine link and that supplemental L-glutamic acid should be avoided by women of childbearing age and individuals with affective disorders."

Aspartic acid from aspartame has the same deleterious effects on the body as glutamic acid.

Phenylananine makes up 50% of Aspartame. This will muck up the Seratonin in your brain leading to emotional problems and depression.

10% of Aspartate is made up of Methanol (or alcohol/poison to you and I!).

Then you have Diketopoperazine (DKP) which is a by product of Aspartame metabolism. DKP has been implicated in the occurrence of brain tumours.

John Cook wrote an article which was published in The Wednesday Journal entitled "An Apsartame Nightmare". He documented his journey when he began to drink 6-8 diet drinks per day. The results were terrifying! He suffered memory loss and frequent headaches. Then he started to crave even more of the diet drinks and then he developed violent rages which were not a part of his personality prior to the experiment! When he stopped consuming Aspartame (a welcome relief no doubt) his symptoms got much better so there's hope for us all!

With the fact that excessive, long term use of Aspartame cause a drop in Seratonin, one has to wonder about the massive upsurge in the prescribing of SSRI's such as Prozac and Seroxat. Perhaps doctor's would better serve their patients by giving them advice to knock their consumption of Aspartame on the head and see if they start the feel better without the use of SSRI's?

I wonder which makes more money, the sweetener or the Prozac? What a heady cocktail!

All artificial sweeteners pose a potential threat that will become all to clear as time goes on. However, as individual consumers we do have the power to alter our buying habits, it just takes a little time and effort but I think you will agree that it would be well worth it to not have to suffer at the hands of Aspartame!